Terminal tackle, such as plugs, skirts, hooks, swivels, and the like are often attached to fishing line using a crimp. Crimps are typically used with fishing line that is too large to form adequate knots. For instance, crimps are often used with 60 pound test monofilament and larger. Crimps are used to form a loop in which a hook may be attached. Often times, crimps are used to attach hooks to a leader. In at least one application, crimps may be used to attach a hook to leader, and to hold a thin wire usable to attach a baitfish, such as a ballyhoo, to the hook. Typically, a hook may be attached to a line by passing a line through a cavity in the crimp, through the eye of a hook, and back through the cavity in the crimp. A thin wire, as shown in FIGS. 1–3, may be inserted into the cavity before the crimp is tightened. The thin wire is typically used to hold ballyhoo, which is a baitfish, on a hook in a manner allowing the ballyhoo to be trolled behind a boat so that the ballyhoo swims in the water and does not spin. It is very important that the ballyhoo swim and not spin. It is rare that a fish will strike a spinning ballyhoo. Rather, pelagic game fish are more apt to strike a swimming ballyhoo.
A ballyhoo is attached to a hook by inserting the hook through a gill cavity and out the belly of the ballyhoo. The eye of the hook may be positioned in the gill cavity of the ballyhoo. The pin may then be inserted through the lower and upper jaws of the ballyhoo from the bottom side of the ballyhoo. The head of the ballyhoo may be attached to the hook and line by wrapping a thin piece of wire around the gill plates, through the eye sockets, and around the mouth of the ballyhoo. The thin piece of wire may also be tightened near the pin so that the ballyhoo cannot slip down the shank of the hook. This configuration prevents a ballyhoo from sliding down the shaft of the hook while being trolled behind a boat. If the ballyhoo slides down the shaft of the hook, the ballyhoo spins, which often causes undesirable line twist and, more importantly, fails to yield a fish strike from, for instance, a sailfish.
Attaching the pin to the crimp is easier said than done. Crimps typically are produced in different sizes for each size monofilament. The cavities in the crimps are sized to be only slightly larger than the monofilament to be passed through the cavities. Thus, there is often not enough space to insert the thin wire into the crimp. In addition, this task is difficult to accomplish while at sea. If a mate is forced to rig baits while in heavy seas because all of the prerigged baits have been used, trying to feed a pin into the cavity in which the monofilament has been inserted can become a time consuming, frustrating task. Thus, a need exists for a more time efficient device for attaching a pin to a crimp.